Springboks kicking coach Percy Montgomery has called for a more ball in hand approach against Australia.

‘I want us to kick less against the Wallabies and carry the ball more. The kicks will also have to be a lot better than has been the case up to now,’ said Montgomery.

‘The second week [in Wellington] was much better. We pointed it out to the players after the Test in Auckland and the statistics from the second Test shows how much better we were. The last thing the players should have done was to kick the ball away. And that’s precisely what we did.’

‘The chase of the kick is just as important and that is another area in which I expect a major improvement. It cannot be measured by statistics. It’s an attitude and I’m happy that we are improving. We could get away with it against Italy, but not against the All Blacks. We have to go back to the basics.’

Wallabies make late change

Matt Hodgson will miss the Wallabies’ Tri-Nations opener against the Springboks in Brisbane on Saturday because of a groin injury.

The Western Force flanker, who was named on the bench, suffered a minor groin strain in training on Tuesday and was ruled out after the injury worsened on Thursday. Hodgson will be replaced by Force team-mate Ben McCalman amongst the reserves.

Boks take ref frustrations to Sanzar

South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins has instructed the Springboks’ representative on the SANZAR legal committee, Judge Lex Mpati, to look into the matter of perceived inconsistencies in the application of the laws.

‘A number of stakeholders have complained to me about the lack of consistency in the rulings of the judicial officials in rugby,’ Hoskins said.

‘I have stressed to Judge Mpati the seriousness of the matter, and he has promised that he will come back to me in writing hopefully by next week. I don’t want to say too much further, as previously I have spoken about the issue in the media and nothing has been done about it.’

Tickets to go on sale in Soweto

Tickets for the historic Tri-Nations clash at the National Stadium will go on sale in Soweto on Monday.

The Golden Lions Rugby Union are the official hosts for the South Africa vs New Zealand fixture, which was originally planned to take place at Ellis Park. 5 000 tickets will be available from 09:00 on Monday, 26 July, sold for R100 on a first-come-first-served basis.

Buyers will be limited to four tickets per customer. These tickets will only be available at Sowetan outlets.